Max Ride meets Tokyo Gurū
by Shizuko Burakki
Summary: Max and the flock in Tokyo.


Author's note: I do owe this to another fanfic author, if you read this

make more chapters please!

* * *

I hadn't _planned_ on a stop in Japan, or in Asia at all. In fact, I'd rather not've. But this last place the Whitecoats would look for us, and we needed a rest. So now I was out grabbing every piece of Japanese candy I could find a small shop in Tokyo. The flock was staying at a hotel nearby, and just before I went up to pay, a guy grabbed my shoulder. I turned to look at him. He had orange hair and eyes, and he was wearing a pair of headphones. He said something in Japanese to me. "Umm..." I said. I wasn't sure how to respond, I for one didn't speak Japanese. He spoke again, this time in English, with a strong Japanese accent, "You don't look like you're from around here. Are you a tourist?"

"Yes," I said, not wanting to be found out.

"Ah," he said. "What's your name? Mine's Hideyoshi, but you can call me Hide." He extended a hand and gave me a friendly smile.

"Max Ride." I said. I shook his hand. He glanced at all the candy I was carrying.

"Do you have yen to pay for that?"

I put my hand over my mouth, mentally cursing at my stupidity. This wasn't America. I didn't have yen, which, I was guessing, was the currency here. Hide laughed, and said, "I'll pay."

* * *

Hide walked up to the counter with me and paid for the candy. We walked out of the store and headed our separate ways. I returned to the hotel, and greeted the flock. What I saw would've scared anyone. They were playing _a video game._ "Guys, were'd you get that?", I said, unable to keep the shock out of my voice.

"Found it." Gazzy said, still completely focused on the game.

I looked at Fang and he shrugged. "It was in a bag under the couch cushion after we came back from looking for escape routes. We decided to play." Escape routes. There was something not weird to focus on.

"How are they looking?"

"There's a window with no screen right behind you."

"Good, then?"

"Yes."

* * *

 _I was walking along a street. People laughed and talked in a foreign language. I saw a boy, about college age, with who I assumed was his date. I glanced across the street. A young girl, a little younger than the boy, stops and stares for a second. Her best friend then called her and she moved on. I followed the boy and his date into a back alley near a construction site. They exchange a few words, and then the boy's eyes widen in fear and horror, as a scarlet colored smokey substance rises from her back. She opens her mouth wide and her pupils become red and the white becomes black. She bites him and all goes black. I dimly hear hospital sounds, and then, a quiet voice, "All is not as it seems in Tokyo."_

* * *

I woke with my heart pounding. I glanced around, seeing the flock beside me. I laid down again and closed my eyes. _It was a dream, Max. Just a dream._ But I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a ring of truth. And that woman's eyes. I couldn't get them out of my mind. Those red eyes... I got up after an unsuccessful attempt to go back to sleep. I walked over and hopped out the window. I flew over the bright city, admiring it before landing on the roof of a building. And then I heard noises below me. It was dark, I couldn't see anything down there. I heard a quiet scream cut short. I was shocked and scared, but that girl was in trouble. _Come on Max. You can take out a full grown man._ I jumped down. The assailant turned towards me- and I nearly screamed. He had the same red eyes as the girl in my dream. He kicked me into a cement wall in the back of the alley, and I heard my ribs crack. Dazed, I turned to face him, and he had sort of shoulder plate over his right arm, but it was attached to his body. Right before I became a Max shish-kebab, someone stepped in front of me. Regaining my vision, I realized I was looking at a boy standing in front of me. He had two wings sprouting from his shoulders, but they didn't look like they were for flying. They were large and oval, flickering like fire, and with one crossed in front of him like a shield. They were red where they began, and faded through orange to yellow, and the rest of the wings were a deep purple, beautiful but terrifying. Angry words were exchanged, and the guy the boy saved me from left. He turned to me. I was frozen in shock he hit me on the head with a wing, and I blacked out.


End file.
